It’s time for spring cleaning, and the Barney & Friends classic 1993 jam “Clean Up” may be the perfect choice while you are raking the yard and cleaning out the attic. Barney the purple dinosaur is not the only one who wants to help us clean up: Compost Your Combustibles and Community Clean Up Day are great local options for getting rid of all of those pinecones from the yard and computer monitors from your attic (maybe even the TV you used to watch Barney on…it’s ok, everyone did it).

Compost Your Combustibles is running now through August 3rd, seven days a week from 9am to 5pm for Tahoe Douglas residents only. Bring along your loose pine needles, slash and natural vegetation (no rocks or noxious weeds, please) to Heavenly’s Boulder parking lot for free disposal. The organic debris collected by Compost Your Combustibles will be transported by South Tahoe Refuse & Recycling trucks to Full Circle Compost in Minden, to be used as feedstock for its composting operation. So, by safely disposing of your yard waste, you help prevent forest fire and make compost to help new things grow. The circle of life!

On Saturday, May 31st, Community Clean Up Day will run from 8am to 4pm at the South Tahoe Refuse Transfer Station. This is where you can get rid of all that stuff that has been screaming “please don’t let me end up in Lake Tahoe” from the back of the garage. The event offers special pricing: California residents pay $5.00 per vehicle load and Nevada residents will pony up $10.00, small prices to pay for the sanity that clean space provides. Document shredding and disposal of up to 20 gallons of hazardous household waste will be free to residential customers, and California residents can finally toss their old computer monitors, TV’s and up to nine tires for free as well. Refrigerator disposal will be available at a reduced rate of $15.00 (usually $39.70). Please do not bring your dirt, concrete, asphalt, roofing and other construction materials to Community Clean Up Day.

We live in a beautiful but fragile ecosystem here in Lake Tahoe. Properly disposing of household and yard waste protects our environment from hazards like water pollution and forest fire. So, in the wise words of Barney, “Do your share!”